From the Pres...April 3, 2009
by Richard Jesuroga
The top of Lookout Mountain in Golden was covered with gliders. It was a warm July morning in 1979 and wuffos were beginning to gather along the guardrail on the road below launch. One young ambitious pilot eager to be the first off the mountain was getting ready and clipped in to his Olympus 160. He had accumulated nearly a 100 flights off Lookout and was wired in to it's varying conditions and thermal cycling traits. Other pilots quickly harnessed up and began moving their gliders toward launch with the familiar sound of control bars scraping along the ground. Thermals were beginning to cycle in, each one a little stronger than the last. The young pilot was visibly nervous as he checked his vario for the umpteenth time and pulled his gloves on tight. The next cycle was perfect. The tail of the windsock on the tree below pointed straight up the slope with surrounding wind socks consistent with the one below. The pilot lifted his Oly, leaned forward and with a strong run was off and climbing quickly. He immediately proned out and turned to the left sweeping over the northeast point. He then turned back toward launch climbing over the set area. He was 75 feet over launch when the scraping control bars sounded off again. The young pilot barely had enough clearance from the hill when he began circling skillfully milking the prized lift.
He circled and climbed above and behind launch when suddenly, without warning, the glider instantly pitched uncontrollably downward "over-the-falls" and into a vertical dive. The air remained deathly quiet as the pilot desperately tried to regain airspeed. Others on launch were horrified watching the glider dive nose down and disappearing from view behind the backside. Within seconds the young pilot crashed hard nose down into the back side. He laid in the bushes, limp, his broken body struggling to breath. In what seemed like an eternity others arrived to help. With rapid medical response and shear luck the he survived and after months of healing and rehab he was fortunate to have a full recovery.
Months later he returned to fly Lookout, this time with a new glider, harness, helmet and most of all a new appreciation for how fast things can go wrong when all seems perfect. He became a good pilot. Not the best, but good. He flew for years at nearly every mountain site in Colorado and other western states. Eventually he would become one of RMHPAs Board of Directors.
As we come into Spring we eagerly look forward to great flying we've waited for all winter long. The new season means the increasing suns angle of incidence will once again warm the ground and force the atmospheric flow aloft into latitudinal transition. This often results in rapid migratory weather events - winter storms followed by warm temperatures. The warming terrain underneath the seasonal cool air offers pilots steep lapse rates, giving us BJ's self described "epic conditions".
Please treat the air with respect. As the saying goes, if things go bad really fast, in an instant your existence comes down to you and your parachute, and you'll have the rest of your life (maybe seconds) to figure it out.